Tuesday, September 30, 2003

A Hole In The Theory

Saved By The Bell: mirrors real life perfectly, right? Well, wrong. I know! I thought so, too. I was always under the impression that if you had a problem in your real life, you could just look to an episode of Saved By The Bell, and the solution would be obvious to you. And this may be true--in high school. But this is college, kids. And things are different in college.

Saved By The Bell: The College Years Myths Dispelled By Real Life:

1. College professors are hot. NOT SO. My Anthropology professor looks like Homo erectus himself, and my English professor's beard is at least five inches long.

2. Boys and girls live together in suites. Again, not so. I don't even think any boys go to this school.

3. The dining halls are cozy, clean, and pretty, like restaurants. No. They are clean, but that's about all that can be said by them. And let me tell you, as good as this dining hall food can be, it can also get very, very old.

4. Class only takes up a couple of hours a day. It takes up too much time! Sure, class itself only lasts a few hours but there's always work to be done. Grr.

5. Kids hold fund-raising raves in the Anthropology auditoriums. This is what I was looking forward to most about college, but evidently, they lock the classrooms when they aren't in use, which means, you guessed it: no fund-raising raves. I was distraught.

6. Roommates are quiet. NO they AREN'T. They are the loudest people in the history of people.

So Saved By The Bell is nothing like real life. But it still beats out the "reality" of Felicity and Dawson's Creek. Gilmore Girls, we'll see about tonight.

Sunday, September 28, 2003

Photographic Evidence



Us before the concert, sitting outside of Vinyl.



Bain on the banjo.



Bain on the accordian (brilliant!) with Ash, the brand-new bassist, and Andy, the drummer who gave us directions to the Caledonia show, in the background.

Just wanted to share a few pic-a-tures from Friday night, since I finally convinced my digital camera to start functioning properly. If any of you kids who came with me (if you aren't in the first picture, then you probably did not come with me) want me to, I can send you some or all of the rest of the pictures from the show. Just let me know!

Saturday, September 27, 2003

"I Said Yes, Like The Sun, Like The Sun"

Man. Bain Mattox. I just can't get enough! And Brynnlee and I are planning on attending the show in a week and a half at the Georgia Theater in downtown Athens, so that'll be three Bain shows in about as many weeks. I really think everyone should do themselves a favor and go to the website, listen to a couple of songs, and check out the band, because I have never talked to anyone who didn't love this band. Try it. Maybe you'll surprise yourself.

Friday, September 26, 2003

Adios!

In an hour or so, Brynnlee and I are driving down to Atlanta to stay with Kelly at Tech (and to see Pennington at State)! Tonight's more than likely yet another Bain Mattox show, and then who knows what. It's an adventure. But when you really think about it, the Tech people should be coming here, you know, to see what a real college experience is supposed to be like. I mean, really.
So that's all. Be back in a couple of days.

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Once Again

It's official, kids. November 19th Butch Walker will be rocking Athens (softly) over at the 40Watt. And everyone is coming with me.
Well, obviously that's a lie. Many of you won't be coming with me. Not if you don't live in the state of Georgia anymore (unless, of course, you feel like flying in for this momentous occasion). Not if you don't live in Athens and can't come because it's a Wednesday night and you'd have to drive back home so late. Not if you hate me or Butch Walker, and probably not if I hate you or if Butch Walker hates you. Not if you're a complete tool. But if you don't fit into any of those categories, and you want to come join me, please do.
And no, I don't know yet what time it starts, how much tickets are, et cetera. We'll figure that out later.
Additionally, I'm excited because I'm going to visit Tech tomorrow! I mean, sure, Boo Tech, but Yay Tech friends (and State friends! Can't forget State friends!)!
By the way, the kids on this week's Back-To-School Jeopardy episodes are complete morons. My favorite: the category was...well I don't remember. But the question (well, the answer--you know what I mean) was "If you make a basket in this game, and your opponent does not, then they get the letter 'H'" and the girl's answer? "Bowling." Bowling!

Friday, September 19, 2003

So I Said, What About...

The other day I was eating lunch in the dining hall and the song "Breakfast At Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something (who knew they were still around?) came on the radio. A few people were sitting at a table near mine, and I overheard them discussing how much they liked the song, and how nostalgic it was, and it got me to thinking about it. Does everybody like this song? It seems like it. I mean, I love it. I'm fairly certain you love it. Is a one-hit-wonder by a 90's band going to turn out to be the one thing that unites everyone in the world? Can we all come together and reach mutual peace and understanding over "one thing we've got"? I'm surprised no politicians have come up with this one yet. I'm way ahead of my time.

Monday, September 15, 2003

"Give 'Em Hell, Howard!"

What a great day. So I skipped my last two classes so I could go with Lindsey, Michael, and Alex down to Georgia State University to see Howard Dean speak, which I feel is a justified reason for skipping class. After a relatively long car ride, we had missed the Q&A session with Dean, so we just set ourselves up in front of the outdoor stage. People were selling buttons (Michael bought one with the slogan that's the title to this blog), and giving out "Howard Dean for America" signs, and plenty of people had made their own signs saying anything from "Rome, GA for Dean" to "Worst President Ever" with a picture of Dubya's face on it. And an old guy whose name I didn't get came on stage and played peace songs for us, because the Q&A session was running long, and then a guy from Rock The Vote recited a long, passionate poem for us, and then after we'd almost fainted from the heat (it was hot), Dean came out. He delivered his speech, pausing often for cheers. I recognized a few of the phrases he used as word-for-word responses from the debates last week, but I figure he can't be expected to have a completely different speech on hand for every occasion. But his speech was good. Short, but good. And then we all gathered at the gate that separated the audience from the stage, after a lot of people had left already, and Dean walked around on the other side of the gate and chatted with people and gave autographs. Pennington (Pennington! Yay!), I believe, had a little discussion about Vermont with him, and he and Michael talked about the Dawgs for a bit. I just managed to say "Thanks" when he signed my sign. Despite that, I felt very political today.
So afterwards, we went to Underground Atlanta and ate at Mick's with some other Deanyboppers (well, I certainly didn't make that up), and then began the long drive back to Athens. On the way home, Lindsey felt a little sick so we pulled over in the field in front of the Chico's warehouse and frolicked for a bit. We all agreed that it would be a prime location to go at night and trip on LSD, if we did such things. And we just talked for a while. Since I'm only really good friends with Lindsey, it was a little strange and a little awkward (well, duh), but in the end it was really nice. It felt good.
And then after a brief stopover in Alex's loft, I was dropped off at the base of Mount Brumby, climbed up the hill, and called my mother, who was none too pleased when I told her of the day's activities. I told her that she would have been singing a different tune had I been at a rally for a Republican candidate, and she didn't deny it. But it really doesn't matter what she thinks of what I did today, and I think that this might be a big part of what college is all about.

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Bain Mattox!!!

Yes, tonight was the much-hyped Bain Mattox show at the Caledonia Lounge. I was debating whether or not I should go earlier this evening--I am so glad I went. It was amazing. If you (any of you who were there) thought that the set opening for Butch Walker was good, the show is so much better with a full band and electric. So I went with Brynnlee and her roommate Marla, and her friends Lisa, Amber, and Tom (I believe that's what their names were), and we politely sat through two talented but dull openers before Bain Mattox came out at about 1 in the morning. And they rocked. Nobody, nobody can rock an accordion like Bain Mattox. It was just a great show; we were right up front, almost everybody there was way into it and knew most of the words, and Bain is really great at interacting with the crowd (maybe because it seemed like a good percentage of the audience members were friends of his in real life). And the music was great. So great, in fact, that Brynnlee went from before the show started saying that she didn't care enough to buy the new CD, and that she'd just burn it from me, to after the concert buying not just the new CD but the old one as well. Both great. Wow. It was amazing. Go to the website. Check them out. Go to the website. Can you tell I want you to buy their CD? I want you to buy their CD almost as much as I want you to buy Butch Walker merchandise. That's how I know I really enjoyed the concert tonight: all throughout it, I almost wouldn't rather have been at Butch Walker. And that, for me, is impressive, because I would always rather be at Butch Walker.
My favorite part of the evening, though: we were kind of confused about where the Caledonia Lounge was, and all we knew was that it was on Clayton Street near the end, so we reached near the end of the street and didn't see any signs for it. We saw a couple of guys walking on the other side of the street and asked one of them where it was, and he was very nice and pointed right to it. It was only later that we discovered that he was the drummer for Bain Mattox. Yep. Take from that what you will.
By the way: Bain Mattox is so cute and has the cutest smile and the cutest chin dimple and the cutest cute cute and we've all decided we want to marry him. Thanks.

"If I could fold like a love-letter..."

Monday, September 08, 2003

Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.

Curing? Try causing.
Watched Moulin Rouge tonight, and became conflicted. About a lot of things. I won't really say.
But it made me really want to get a time machine, go back to the era of the movie, move to France, find a penniless sitar play--I mean, penniless writer, and spend a penniless life lying in bed inspiring him to write while he wears suspenders without a shirt and a really cute hat. That's the life. But, as that's impossible (I mean, who owns suspenders anymore?), I'd settle for falling in love. Methinks I should make it my misson--there's the cute boy in my Lit class, the cute boys in my Astronomy class, and above all, Cute Shakespeare Boy (known to some of you as CSB). So, I'll work on that. And if any of you have any leads on any cute, passionate, Scottish boys living in Athens who'd also like to fall in love and wear suspsenders without a shirt, please alert me immediately. I'll be very, very grateful.

Edited to add: I'd like to amend my requirements for a boy to add that he must own an old-fashioned type-writer, because that clicky-clack sound makes my heart beat faster.

Sunday, September 07, 2003

Let's Recap

TEP just needs to stop having parties until one of two things happens: either they can start having good parties, or they can have someone clean their house. It's gross. But against our better judgement, we hiked downhill to last night's TEP band party. Well, the band was bad, playing songs I remember from the middle school dances in sixth grade, and the party was not much better. I mean, I suppose it wasn't terrible, and it was better than just sitting in the dorm watching TV, but it could definitely stand for some improvement. So once we got bored of it, around 12:30, Roommate!Jessica went back to the dorm to sleep or something similar, and her friend Karen and I decided to go to the Annex downtown, because some people we knew were going. So we walk all the way downtown--not exactly a friendly walk, you know--and are standing outside the Annex when Karen all of a sudden realizes where her ID is--in her wallet, in her dorm. So, that plan was botched, but it wasn't so bad, because as we were leaving a car pulled up to the Annex and parked, and a few girls in skimpy clothes got out (not the fun part), followed by a pirate (the fun part). A pirate! I mean, granted he was more Captain Hook than Captain Sparrow, but it was entertaining nevertheless. We did not stay to find out what sort of business a pirate would have at the Annex.
So back to Creswell it was, Karen's dorm, where we sat, bored. We called a couple of boys who hung out with us for about ten minutes each, but by 2:30 it was obvious that any sort of fun that could have been had last night was over. But hey--like I said--it was better than sitting in the dorm all night.
Today's events include Sunday brunch at O-house (mmmm....), watching Velvet Goldmine in the room with some hallmates (again, mmmm....), and an early dinner at Gumby's (once more: mmmm....). It's a good day for yummy things, I think.

Friday, September 05, 2003

Out For Blood?

If you really want to hurt someone, you know, really make them suffer, then look no further. Just play them that dreadful "Right Thurr" song. It makes my ears bleed.

Speaking Of Sting...

There's apparently an infestation of yellow jackets in a group of bushes between Brumby and Russell. When I was walking back from my car, there were a couple of men in almost astronaut-like suits with thick mesh masks spraying unidentifiable substances into said bushes in order to kill the yellow jackets. Those pesky math nerds. When will they learn?

Thursday, September 04, 2003

"Grace, go to bed. You obviously have had a very busy day of crazy."

Will & Grace reruns are the absolute perfect remedy for...well...everything.

Better Living Through University

So this afternoon I had to wait for almost an hour and a half, in both sun and rain outside Stegeman Coliseum, to purchase my football tickets (I got all six home games, like pretty much every other person in the whole school). On Saturday I'll find out if they were worth all that and the $48 I paid for them, but I'm sure they are. According to everyone who's not a freshman, game days here are amazingly fun. So despite the fact that we're playing Middle Tennessee State for the first home game this weekend, which I'm not sure is a real school, I'm very excited.
The girl across the hall in my dorm insists of playing Sting music at top volume with her door open, which strikes me as odd because Sting doesn't seem like the kind of music you blare. A girl in my roommate's sorority told her that two nights ago she woke up in the middle of the night to find her roommate drunk, swinging from her loft, and peeing all over the room. Gotta love college life.
Someone on the second floor of O-house has a Butch Walker poster hanging in their window, facing outside. I need to find out who this person is (cross your fingers that it's a hot guy). Was it Friends where somebody had to count the number of windows and try and find a certain room on the inside of an apartment building? Or maybe that was on Seinfeld. They all blend together, but in any case, that's what I intend to do, if I could ever get in O-house.
I wish I could tell hundreds of interesting stories about my wild and exciting college life, but things are pretty dull. Eh.

Monday, September 01, 2003

A Call To Arms

Okay, so which of you Athenians are going to come with me to the Bain Mattox concert on September 12th at the Caledonia Lounge? Hell, all of you Alpharettans and Atlantans are perfectly welcome to come as well. It's the CD release party, and although I already have an autographed copy of the new CD, I will be there (with bells on? Whatever that means). But I don't wanna go by myself! C'mon, people, good music.
On another, slightly related note, I am going crazy!!! Some things should almost be left unsaid.